The Northern Cape Education department says it is forced to come with a catch-up plan as schools continue to lose more school days due to COVID-19 infections. Most of the schools that are affected are in Namakwa District Municipality.
While the Northern Cape is still the province with the least infections and deaths, in recent days, it has been recording over 100 infections daily.
The province has recorded a cumulative number of 362 infections over the past three days. Four schools were forced to close in Calvinia in the past two weeks, when 36 positive cases were reported in those schools. The department recorded a further 23 positive cases in the same district this past week.
The department spokesperson, Lehuma Ntuane, says: “We are now forced to develop catch-up plan to ensure that once all the mass testing and verification has been done and we have obtained the results of all those who are tested, particularly the teachers, our learners and support staff, we will begin now to zoom into how we recover the lost teaching and learning time while the affected schools remain closed. The department will also monitor the situation very closely. We urge all parents to remain calm and keep all learners in isolation.”
Northern Cape sees a spike in COVID-19 cases:
While infections in the province are continuing to rise, most people are still roaming the streets without observing COVID-19 protocols like social distancing and wearing face masks. SABC News caught up with some of those who were roaming the streets without their face masks and this is what they had to say.
“I don’t have a reason, I don’t want to lie but I regret not wearing it. Without it in some places, I can’t get through,” said one resident.
“I’ve got no excuse. I only put mask on when I’m in public space where there’s many people,” added another resident.
“Because of Aids is no more famous, COVID is now famous. Let them stop this condom budget and or let’s change condom budget to the mask one,” said another community member.
The health department in the province says vaccination of health workers is proceeding well, with 4 556 of them having inoculated to date. – Report by Motlalepule Morake
